


Virgin Night

by firefly124



Category: Black Jewels - Anne Bishop, Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-31
Updated: 2011-05-31
Packaged: 2017-10-19 23:06:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/206208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefly124/pseuds/firefly124
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once again, Ivan ends up volunteered for something.  Set just after <i>Brothers in Arms</i> and at least 19 years after <i>Queen of the Darkness</i> (ergo OFC is at least 18).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Virgin Night

**Author's Note:**

> Written both as a gift fic for [bluedolfyn](http://bluedolfyn.livejournal.com) and for AdventDrabbles 2007 on InsaneJournal.

Ivan was a little overwhelmed. Well, he was a little overwhelmed in the same way that they were a little lost and a little unsure how they were going to get home or even back to their own universe.

Although, really, this couldn’t be that hard. Ralian was just a girl. He could manage to have sex with a girl. He’d done it plenty of times before, hadn’t he? Except … he wasn’t quite sure what to do about the wings. He had a hard enough time controlling the Barrayaran impulse to find them a revolting mutation. Bat-like. But she’d soared so gracefully when she’d found them and their very useless ship that it was hard not to think of them as part of her beauty.

At least half the warnings from her mother hadn’t even made sense. The whole point was that she’d chosen him for this ritual deflowering thing they did on this … planet or whatever it was, so how was he supposed to avoid “breaking” her?

When it came to that, he thought Aunt Cordelia’s home planet had the right idea, getting that out of the way before a girl went and had sex with anyone. Sex wasn’t supposed to hurt – unless you were into that sort of thing, and Ivan most certainly wasn’t.

Right. Well, this couldn’t be any worse than the Thames Tidal Barrier, right? Except … he had the feeling that if he did anything wrong, Ralian’s father, Lucivar, would come up with even worse ways to torment him. That guy was scary even without the wings. Ivan tried not to think about the fact that the man knew what Ivan was going to be doing with his daughter very soon. Apparently that was normal around here, but knowing that didn’t make it any easier.

Steeling himself, Ivan knocked on the door to her bedroom.

~*~

Ralian took one last look at herself in the mirror. Her hair hung loose, something she wasn’t used to, but her mother had suggested it. The brilliant emerald silk nightgown did look nice against her light brown skin, if she did say so herself. It also matched the Birthright Green necklace she wore, and would still wear after tonight, if she’d judged Ivan well.

Her father had been livid at her choice. While he was willing to acknowledge the strangers as having rank similar to Warlord in Ivan’s case and Warlord Prince in his cousin’s, they had no Craft. It didn’t seem to exist in their world.

But Ralian knew, just knew somehow, that he wouldn’t hurt her. Auntie Jaenelle had considered the matter carefully and agreed. That had calmed Papa down, but only just.

Most importantly, though nobody except Auntie Jaenelle seemed to understand, Ivan wouldn’t be here very long. She knew they’d find a way to send him and the others back to their world soon. And since there wasn’t anyone she specifically wanted right now, Ralian would rather not have to deal with the man who saw her through her Virgin Night for the rest of her life. People did, she knew, but sometimes it was awkward. She didn’t like things to be awkward.

A knock sounded at the door, and she ran her hand over her hair one last time. When she opened the door, a sudden case of nerves washed over her, and she bit her lip. He looked so handsome in his olive green uniform. She recognized Mama’s pressing spell in the creases of his trousers. Should she really be noticing his trousers already? She stepped aside and gestured for him to enter.

He looked around the room curiously before finally turning to face her.

“Hi,” she said. “You look nice.”

“So do you,” he replied after clearing his throat. “Um, how … how are we supposed to do this?”

She felt her eyes go wide. “I thought … you mean you haven’t …?”

“No! No.” He patted the air in front of him. “Just … well we don’t do things like this where I’m from. It’s not all … well, sometimes it is arranged, but then you get married first, and …”

“Women in your world marry before they’ve had their Virgin Night?” She scrunched up her nose. “How can they be sure they want to marry someone if they haven’t had sex with them?”

Ivan choked, then said, “If you ever end up in my world, you definitely need to meet my Aunt Cordelia.”

An awkward silence fell before Ralian remembered the goblets. She called for them and passed one to Ivan, gesturing to him to sit on the edge of the bed. He looked at her quizzically.

“It’s traditional,” she said. She felt herself blush as she added, “It’s called Night of Fire. It’s supposed to, um, help.” She quickly took a sip. It tasted lovely, and she felt some of the nervousness begin to fade.

Still looking a bit hesitant, he followed her example. When he’d finished, she vanished both goblets.

“Are there any other traditions I should know about?” he asked.

“Um, just one.” She leaned over and kissed him quickly. When he licked his lip, her heart seemed to stutter a little. “Just … the Lady is supposed to give the first kiss.”

“I see. And then?”

“Then her partner knows his advances are welcome.” She thought she must sound like a book. He didn’t seem to mind, as he was leaning towards her and then kissing her very much more thoroughly. She ran her fingers through his short hair, down his neck, and along his shoulders as he coaxed her lips open and caressed her tongue with his. Warmth spread through her and settled between her legs, and she didn’t think that was just from the brew they’d drunk.

Suddenly he pulled back.

“What’s wrong?”

“I … Ralian, I want to do this. I do. But … everyone was warning me not to hurt you, and I don’t know how to do this without hurting you.”

She touched his cheek. He looked so earnest. So concerned.

“You won’t hurt me,” she said softly. “You might not have Craft, but I know you won’t.”

“But it does hurt, doing it this way,” he said.

“Just the flesh,” she said. “And that’s not the important part.”

He looked bewildered, and she thought that was the most adorable expression she’d ever seen as she pulled him down to her for another kiss and began unfastening the buttons of his uniform shirt, thrilling as she felt him surrender to her.

Frustrated when she found he had another shirt underneath, she vanished his clothes.

“That,” he said, pulling back briefly from her lips, “is a very useful trick.”

She smirked and lay back, inviting him to join her.

“Very unfair that I can’t learn it,” he said, “but perhaps it will be more enjoyable this way.”

He trailed a hand along her silk-covered breast, and she found herself arching into his touch. When he mouthed her nipple through the fabric, she nearly purred. And when he eased the strap of the nightgown off her shoulder and kissed her bare breast, her wings stretched out taut beneath her and the heat between her legs grew. He startled a bit, then ran his fingertips over the skin of one wing, and she shuddered with pleasure.

Returning his attention to her breasts, he uncovered the other and alternated his attentions between them until she thought she might lose her mind and lifted her hips to grind against him.

“Mmm, not just yet,” he murmured, sliding the gown the rest of the way off her and looking at her hungrily for a moment.

Then he was kissing her stomach, her thighs, and everywhere except … oh, yes, there. His tongue stroked and tickled and fanned the flames within her. She gasped as he slipped a finger inside her, stroking her gently within as his tongue continued to caress her without. When he added a second finger, she felt her body stretch to accommodate it, but within minutes she knew it wasn’t quite enough.

Before she could tell him to get on with it, he found the most delicious spot inside her, and instead of what she’d planned to say to him, she simply moaned in pleasure. And then his hand and mouth were gone, and she whimpered until she felt his cock pressing against her and into her, and it hurt, but not nearly as much as she’d heard, and then he was filling her, stretching her, and it felt wonderful as he stroked slowly in and out of her body, pleasure soon replacing the pain.

She sighed his name as she felt a crescendo building within her, and he slipped a hand between them, caressing, taking her higher and higher until she thought she would shatter into a million pieces, and suddenly she knew why this was dangerous, why Papa was afraid she would be broken, but she knew Ivan would catch her. Trusting that knowledge, she let herself tip over the edge, pleasure searing through her, and as she plummeted towards her Inner Web, she felt his arms around her. And even as his movements sped and she felt the warmth of his seed flood into her, she felt them land on the Web, and it held firm.

Suddenly feeling quite lazy, she called in a blanket to cover them both and drifted to sleep.

~*~

The next day, Ivan found himself reluctantly saying goodbye to her. The “coven” had discovered a way to send him and Miles and the others back. It had something to do with “webs” and “threads,” but it didn’t sound like any of the string theory he’d learned at the Imperial Academy. More magic.

“You might not remember,” Jaenelle warned. “You’ll go back to the same time and place you were in before you were transported here.”

Ivan shot a glance at Ralian. “I don’t want to forget.”

She held his gaze. “I’ll remember for both of us.”

He felt Miles’ hand on his shoulder as he nodded to her, willed himself not to forget her, and turned to go back to the ship.


End file.
